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Tennessee PoliticsMon, 07 Apr 2014 14:51:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6Chicago sings the convention center blueshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/chicagos-singing-the-convention-center-blues/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/chicagos-singing-the-convention-center-blues/#commentsTue, 19 Jan 2010 05:01:07 +0000Ryan Underwoodhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=9050The Wall Street Journalposted this gloomy assessment of Chicago’s convention center business on the eve of the Metro Council’s vote to approve a new $585 million facility. Granted, much of the problems in Chicago appear to deal with “high costs and complex work rules” for unions. Nevertheless, for anyone paying attention to Nashville’s convention center debate, this paragraph should give you pause:

Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which runs McCormick, had an operating loss of $3.6 million in the fiscal year ended last June and expects to lose $24 million this year. The authority also expects to fall short by $53 million over two years on its debt payments, which are financed by taxes on tourist-related businesses. The state has to make up the difference.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/chicagos-singing-the-convention-center-blues/feed/9Music City Center the Debatehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-the-debate/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-the-debate/#commentsTue, 08 Dec 2009 21:37:37 +0000Nate Rauhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-the-debate/Talk show host Steve Gill will moderate a town hall debate on the proposed new convention center tonight from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Union Station. The free event is open to the public, and will feature restaurateur Randy Rayburn and downtown business advocate Betsy Williams for the proponents facing Councilwoman Emily Evans and Nashville Priorities member Allen Hovious for the opposition.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-the-debate/feed/0Can Nashville afford the convention center? Depends on who you talk to.http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/can-nashville-afford-the-convention-center-depends-on-who-you-talk-to/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/can-nashville-afford-the-convention-center-depends-on-who-you-talk-to/#commentsFri, 23 Oct 2009 19:01:42 +0000Brad Schradehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=7622If Nashville builds a $600 million downtown convention center and a $300 million hotel, will it be able to build much else anytime soon?

A new opposition group to Mayor Karl Dean’s convention center proposal is raising this question, as it tries to get a public dialogue going about the merits of the project. Tennessean City Hall reporter Michael Cass will explore these questions and others about the financing of the convention center project in a report in this Sunday’s Tennessean.

Cass spoke to opposition leaders, supporters of the project and experts in the field to get at these and other questions. Later in the week, Tennessean.com will also host an online debate broadcast Wednesday between an leading advocate and opponent of the project to explore the burning questions about the Music City Center.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/can-nashville-afford-the-convention-center-depends-on-who-you-talk-to/feed/8Music City Center Coalition names new leadership teamhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-coalition-names-new-leadership-team/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-coalition-names-new-leadership-team/#commentsMon, 28 Sep 2009 15:13:17 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=7006The Music City Center Coalition, which recently re-formed to make the final push for a new downtown convention center, held its first meeting last week. More than 100 people heard from Mayor Karl Dean, the project’s chief advocate, a coalition news release said.

The coalition was already planning to get out into the community a lot this fall to make the convention center case. It might do so even more now that Nashville’s Priorities, a group of skeptics/critics, has formed to raise questions about the benefit of the plan and make sure it’s fully understood before the Metro Council signs off on it.

Along with a formidable lobbyist in former Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley and PR help from Seigenthaler Public Relations, the coalition has new officers. It’s not that much different from the group’s original leadership team, with the exception of former AT&T Tennessee President Marty Dickens, whom Dean has appointed to the convention center authority, which would build and operate the facility.

Here’s the new coalition lineup from a news release I received Friday afternoon:

The MCCC is chaired by Ron Samuels, president of Avenue Bank. Sam Howard, president of Phoenix Holdings and former chairman of the Nashville Convention Center Commission, will serve as vice chair for the volunteer group. Other members of the MCCC leadership team include Dr. T.B. Boyd, R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation; Dr. Bob Fisher, Belmont University; Lewis Lavine, Center for Nonprofit Management; Bert Mathews, The Mathews Company; Jeff Mefford, Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau; Ralph Schulz, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; and Butch Spyridon, Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/music-city-center-coalition-names-new-leadership-team/feed/3Forkum weighs in againhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/forkum-weighs-in-again/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/forkum-weighs-in-again/#commentsTue, 19 May 2009 22:28:23 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=3794Metro Councilman Jim Forkum said this afternoon that he started asking questions about the May 31 convention center forum because a couple of other council members had asked him what was going on, and he had a few concerns of his own. He said supporters of the project didn’t ask him to raise the issue.

Forkum also noted that the five at-large council members, who are all co-sponsors of the debate, are all members of the Budget and Finance Committee, which he chairs. He said Metro’s Channel 3 will send a crew to Vanderbilt to broadcast the event.

“There’s no way you can say it’s not a council event,” he said, referring to Councilwoman Megan Barry’s written remarks earlier today.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/forkum-weighs-in-again/feed/0Convention center debate plan inspires debate on venue, sponsorshiphttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/convention-center-debate-plan-inspires-debate-on-venue-sponsorship/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/convention-center-debate-plan-inspires-debate-on-venue-sponsorship/#commentsTue, 19 May 2009 20:31:53 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=3777A debate on the merits of a new downtown convention center is being held on a Sunday afternoon at Vanderbilt University because “it’s not a Metro Council event,” Councilwoman Megan Barry wrote today after a fellow council member raised questions about the event.

The debate, sponsored by Barry and about a dozen other council members, as well as The Tennessean and other news organizations, will pit one of the convention hall’s loudest cheerleaders against a critic of cities adding to their convention space. Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, will match rhetoric and data with Professor Heywood Sanders, professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Barry announced the May 31 event late last week, saying its purpose was to “give the community an opportunity to hear divergent viewpoints on the proposed convention center and to foster a dialogue on the merits of the project.” Little else was said about it until Councilman Jim Forkum, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, sent a bunch of questions Monday night to Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, another sponsor.

Here’s what Forkum wrote (I’ve edited the last question to make it understandable; a few extra words muddied the version I received):

Vice Mayor Neighbors,

I have received several questions about the Forum to be held at Vanderbilt on the proposed Convention Center. Some of these questions have raised other questions in my mind. Is the Committee system’s purpose to hear dialogue on issues at hand especially those currently on our Agenda?

Would it have been better to arrange a joint meeting at the Council Chambers? Budget and Finance along with Convention and Tourism Committees would have been appropriate. It certainly would have been more convenient for all forty Council Members to attend.

Why are these meetings being held on a private campus like Vanderbilt?

Why is the media sponsoring this event and in what way?

Are Council-at-Large members spear-heading this event?

Who requested the forum and what is the real purpose as it bypasses the Committee system and thereby undermines the process?

Neighbors, in her reply, said the event would be like a community meeting held in a particular council district, which some council members have put on to help their constituents get more information on issues like the recent property reappraisal and, yes, the convention center proposal. Here’s the meat of Neighbors’ email:

As you know I totally agree that our committee system is where we ask our questions and discuss the issues. My understanding was that this forum was to be similar to those meetings being held in council districts as opposed to a committee meeting where debate occurs. Again I cannot speak for the organizers as to the format that will be used.

Last Friday I received a call from CM Barry stating that the five at-large members had decided to organize and host a public forum focusing on the Convention Center. She asked if I wanted to be on the host committee and I believe that all members of the council were asked to as well. Considering the committee members, I assumed there had been some discussion with the Chairs of both Budget & Finance and Convention & Tourism. I sincerely regret that this did not occur.

And here’s what Barry had to say, centered on the idea that the event is aimed at every Nashville resident who’s interested in the convention center issue, not just the 40 council members:

Dear Council members – Councilmember Forkum sent out an e-mail that posed questions about the upcoming public forum on the proposed convention center scheduled for May 31 and I wanted to take a moment to respond. The central question appears to be why the event is not formally connected to Council’s committee system. The answer is simple: it’s not a Metro Council event. Although a few of us who happen to be members of Metro Council conceived of the idea of putting an event like this together and inviting both a prominent out-of-town expert on convention center economics and the president of the CVB to participate, the purpose is not to convene a Council session or hearing. The purpose is to create a public forum for public conversation on the proposed convention center that brings together diverse viewpoints.

Council committees are certainly acting appropriately when they arrange to hear dialogue on issues related to Council’s agenda. This forum is not a Council activity, and so it neither bypasses nor undermines Council mechanisms and procedures. All members of the Council as well as news media outlets were invited to co-sponsor the event to give it visibility and to spread the word to interested parties. News media sponsorship is nothing more than an agreement to be listed as a co-sponsor; there is no financial or other role.

The Vanderbilt site was chosen because it did not cost to rent the space, is easily accessible and has free parking. The goal is to make it easy for the public to attend and for Council members to attend if they are available. We are also hopeful that the event will be taped by Channel 3 so that it can be viewed by a wider audience.

Councilmember Forkum’s idea for the committees to offer up to the Council the opportunity to hear from Dr. Sanders and Mr. Spyridon at the same time is an excellent one and I would highly encourage the chairs of the Budget Committee and the Tourism Committee to convene such a meeting if they think it would be helpful and appropriate to do so. I would be happy to assist.

Please let me know if I can answer any additional questions.

Barry also told me today that she and a few other council members will be spending their own money to fly Sanders here.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/convention-center-debate-plan-inspires-debate-on-venue-sponsorship/feed/2Tourism industry tries to pack the house for convention center votehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/packing-the-house-and-trying-to-stack-the-deck/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/packing-the-house-and-trying-to-stack-the-deck/#commentsMon, 18 May 2009 20:14:35 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=3654Just in time for Tuesday’s Metro Council vote on acquiring land for a new convention center, Mayor Karl Dean and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau are getting ready for a rally and delivering news about another convention booked in the not-yet-approved, nowhere-close-to-breaking-ground facility.

The tourism rally will start at 5:30 Tuesday, an hour before the council meeting, in the Public Square outside the Metro Courthouse and City Hall. Dean, country music star Kix Brooks (of Brooks and Dunn) and Councilman Tim Garrett, chairman of the council committee that deals with tourism, will speak. This week happens to be National Tourism Week, according to the CVB release.

In a separate release, the CVB said it has landed the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association’s annual expo – and 13,100 hotel room nights – for 2013, the year the Music City Center is supposed to open:

Being able to bring back conventions, like the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo, which outgrew our existing convention facilities, demonstrates exactly why the Music City Center is needed. Investing in a new downtown convention center is one of the best things our city can do for future economic development,” said Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.

To date, The Academy of General Dentistry and the Association of School Administrators have booked conventions at the new Music City Center in June 2013 and February 2014 respectively. The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance has committed to meet at the Music City Center in 2018 and the Southern Baptist Convention has signed on for June 2013 and 2019.

The Hearth, Patio & Barbeque Expo was held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in 2003, but has not been able to return to the city due to a lack of adequate space. The event requires 350,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space and additional outdoor space to accommodate approximately 10,000 attendees.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/packing-the-house-and-trying-to-stack-the-deck/feed/0Metro Council members to host convention center panel discussion before votehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/council-members-to-host-convention-center-panel-discussion-before-vote/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/council-members-to-host-convention-center-panel-discussion-before-vote/#commentsFri, 15 May 2009 18:12:12 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=3595Thirteen Metro Council members and Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors plan to sponsor a panel discussion about the city’s convention center proposal on Sunday, May 31, two days before the council will likely take a final vote on acquiring land for the project.

The discussion/debate will feature Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau and one of the leading supporters of the project, and Heywood Sanders, an urban development expert at the University of Texas at San Antonio who has been critical of cities tackling big expansions of convention space. It will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at a location to be announced on Vanderbilt University’s campus.

The event is free and open to the public. The Tennessean and other news organizations are co-sponsors.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/council-members-to-host-convention-center-panel-discussion-before-vote/feed/1Dean summoning council members for convention center discussionshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/dean-summoning-council-members-for-convention-center-discussions/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/dean-summoning-council-members-for-convention-center-discussions/#commentsWed, 13 May 2009 22:54:40 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=3541Mayor Karl Dean has been calling in handfuls of Metro Council members this week to ask them where they stand on the upcoming vote on acquiring land for the proposed convention center, council members said today.

They said Dean wasn’t pressuring them so much as wanting to know where they stood and what concerns they might have before Tuesday, when the council will formally debate the land-acquisition plan during its 6:30 p.m. meeting.

“It was very conciliatory and very open, and they were willing to answer whatever questions I had,” Councilwoman Megan Barry said. “It’s positive that they’re reaching out.”

The mayor wants to start buying land south of Broadway months before he’ll be able to say exactly how the city would finance construction of the $595 million convention center, $40 million in parking facilities and an approximately $300 million hotel.

The city’s bond attorneys said last week that Metro could keep collecting revenues dedicated to the convention center to pay off its land debt even if it ultimately decided not to build the facility. But some council members have balked at the prospect of saying they intend to build the convention center before knowing how they’d pay for it.

Barry, however, said she appreciates Dean’s “incremental approach.”

“This is not a decisive vote,” she said. “This is moving the process along.”

Tuesday’s vote will be the second of three required for approval of Dean’s plan.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/dean-summoning-council-members-for-convention-center-discussions/feed/0Dean to deliver State of Metro address next weekhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/dean-to-deliver-state-of-metro-address-next-week/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/dean-to-deliver-state-of-metro-address-next-week/#commentsWed, 15 Apr 2009 15:22:45 +0000Michael Casshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=2454As he finalizes his operating budget proposal, tries to get building projects moving again and pushes for a new convention center, Mayor Karl Dean will deliver his second annual State of Metro address at 10 a.m. on April 23 at Music City Central, 400 Charlotte Ave., his office announced today. The event will be held on the bus station’s upper level on the plaza.